By Brent Tester
Batch Selection
On April 15, 2024, Andy Hatch escaped his daily duties at the farm and delivered six distinct, hand-selected wheels of his flagship cheese, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, to us at the France 44 Cheese Shop. Andy is the owner and head cheesemaker at Uplands Cheese Company in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. His flagship cheese, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, is a perennial favorite amongst staff, customers, and critics alike. Andy’s visit to our cheese shop is the second iteration of a new, annual tradition at France 44: the Pleasant Ridge Reserve batch selection. In previous years, our cheesemongers visited Andy on his farm in Dodgeville to partake in our yearly batch selection. However, thanks to our brand-new event space, we’ve had the pleasure and honor of hosting Andy in Minneapolis, where our customers are now afforded access to one of our favorite yearly traditions.
You might be wondering… why does “batch selection” matter? Or, what does “batch selection” even mean? Andy and his team at Uplands Cheese follow what he describes as the “ancient rhythm” of artisanal cheesemaking. Pleasant Ridge Reserve takes influence from the iconic mountain cheeses of Europe such as Beaufort from the French Alps, Gruyere from the Swiss Alps, and Ossau Iraty of the Pyrenees in the Basque Country. In these traditions, cheesemakers only make when their cattle are naturally lactating, when their grazing land is at peak pasture, and with unpasteurized (i.e., “raw”) milk (and often still warm from the animal!). Andy follows this strict criteria; he does not make cheese before or after he believes the milk is “Pleasant Ridge ready.” Each day during the Pleasant Ridge Reserve make season, Andy’s herd grazes on a unique patch of their 300-acre farm. Native grasses, flowers, weeds, and fescue imbue the cow’s milk with a distinct flavor profile completely exclusive to that day’s make. Each day, Andy and his team make about 80 wheels of their flagship cheese, and we’ve been given the honor of selecting two batches from last year's make season.
This year, the France 44 Cheese Shop will be the exclusive home to the June 20, 2023, and the July 3, 2023 batches of Pleasant Ridge Reserve. The June 20, 2023 batch will be the first available in our case. Our cheesemongers and Andy both agreed that the July 3, 2023 batch will be even better with age, so look out for that batch closer to the holiday season. For our featured pairing, we focus on the June 20, 2023 batch of Pleasant Ridge Reserve, and we believe De Wetshop Estate’s “Bon Vallon” 2022 Chardonnay creates a perfect pairing.
Why We Love the Cheese
Each batch of Pleasant Ridge Reserve frequently checks all the boxes for an outstanding artisanal cheese: it is perfectly balanced, complex, and elegant in its flavor profile, easily workable and snackable in its texture, and extremely versatile in its potential culinary applications. The June 20, 2023 batch is no exception. Its texture is firm, slightly waxy, and rich…. perfect for immediate consumption! It displays aromas of roasted almonds, pineapple, and fresh grass. Its flavor profile includes unsalted and roasted nuts, toasted bread, and boozy pineapple as you approach the rind. This batch is a textbook Alpine-style cheese: it's nutty, slightly sweet, and a definite crowd-pleaser. The flavor never overwhelms the palette; the finish is long, complex, and inviting. We think it’s an outstanding batch of Pleasant Ridge Reserve, and it’s only available at our cheese counters.
Why We Love the Wine
De Wetshof Estate is perhaps the eminent Chardonnay House of South Africa. Their vineyards and winemaking operation played a pivotal role in making Chardonnay ubiquitous across South African wine regions. Their “Bon Vallon” 2022 Chardonnay is a clean, pure, and refreshing expression of the varietal: the grapes see no contact with oak during fermentation and are left on the lees under highly controlled temperatures. It shows aromas of citrus, peach, and brioche, and carries flavors of citrus, stone fruit, wildflowers, and roasted nuts. This vintage is elegant, balanced, and complex (sound familiar??), and it’s a crystal-clear expression of their vineyard’s soils.
Why We Love the Pairing
Both the June 20, 2023 batch of Pleasant Ridge Reserve and De Wetshof’s “Von Ballon” 2022 Chardonnay clearly express their given terroir. They are both exceptional examples of artisanal goods that highlight the importance of tradition, attention to detail, and respect for the land that they emanate from. This pairing is mostly complementary; both the cheese and the wine share many distinct characteristics. They share aromas and flavors of nuttiness, ripe fruit, and toasted bread, and the interaction of those similar characteristics works to amplify them. The interaction is noticeably savory, pleasantly acidic, and texturally rich. The flavor concentration of each is perfectly matched, so you do not have to worry about drowning out the elegance of the cheese when you take a sip of the wine (or vice versa). Perhaps most importantly, however, is that both encapsulate something specific. For De Wetshof’s “Von Ballon” 2022 Chardonnay, it's a specific grow season, a specific place, and a specific grape. For Uplands Cheese’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve June 20, 2023 batch, it’s a specific day, on a specific patch of pasture, and a specific herd of cows. We encourage you to come to France 44 and try our featured pairing, or, to borrow Andy’s words, to try something “specific, specific.”